Saithe to use – Could this be an answer to price and availability?

Having spent some time with Bjorn-Erik, UK Director for Norwegian Seafood Council in Norway earlier in the year, it is clear that he will be bringing his experience from working with other countries to the role of promoting Norwegian fish to the UK. One of his key projects will be to promote the use of Norwegian Saithe (Coley) in the UK

Saithe is a white fish that we tasted at the Westminster Kingsway College and also featured in depth on the Norway trip to Sortland.

Aman, the owner of the Scrap Box in York, winners of the Quality Accreditation Champion Award in the National Fish & Chip Awards 2025, has been promoting the species at his A1 location.

Aman says, “After a lot of education around alternative species, with the backdrop of rising cod and haddock prices, we chose to showcase saithe. We ran a lunchtime special during September and called it Saithe September.

Part of the reason we went with saithe as our first alternative fish was the fact that the Norwegian Seafood Council was doing a lot to promote it. We thought it was a good opportunity to ride that wave with the great PR it was getting. It was also a great story that I had been on the Langøy vessel during the award winners’ trip, which caught the saithe we were selling.

We have sold over 10 portions pretty much every day we’ve run the campaign in September so far. At £7.95 for a 5oz saithe and chips with a side, the price is definitely a draw for some customers.

Feedback has overall been great. It helps that the staff are really enjoying the taste. Their enthusiasm makes a huge difference when it comes to selling the product.

The pearly grey underside of the saithe is still something that we know some customers need convincing on, so we are excited to see what the deep skinning on the vessels produces. We will definitely be running another month of saithe in the future.”

In future issues of Fast Food Professional we will be looking at the new and creative ways that Saithe can be used in our takeaways and restaurants to attract and keep our customers.